There are probably times when you’ve been irritated by a car ahead that is moving much slower than other traffic. The car may be in the slow lane to the side but you are caught behind because there is a lot of traffic moving in the other lanes. Some drivers may even be so irritated and create a dangerous situation by tailgating the car ahead, driving right up to the bumper to ‘urge’ the driver to go faster.
There are probably good reasons why the driver is going so slow. He or she may not have confidence even though possessing a driving licence. The car may have some problem that is preventing it from going faster. The person is not feeling well so he is taking it easy. Lots of reasons but drivers behind won’t be aware and only know they are having to drive slowly and are unhappy.
One driver took the initiative to try to let others behind understand why he was going so slowly. He pasted a handwritten message on his bootlid which read: “Sorry xleh laju wife czer” (sorry cannot go fast, wife had czer). For those who are unfamiliar with ‘czer’, it’s a reference to ‘caesarean section’ (c-section) which is an operation done to bring out the baby through a cut made in the abdomen. This is done in the event that a normal delivery cannot be done for various reasons.
Motorists who bothered to read the message would surely have been understanding although some may have not known what ‘czer’ is. One motorist who understood was Twitter user @tumbukrusuk who posted a picture of the car which was taken along the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) IN Selangor.
In his tweet, he commended the driver of the Honda City for caring about his wife’s condition as well as being thoughtful in letting other motorists know why he had to go slow. Many responses in Twitter also praised the driver and some said that it was not necessary to have the message as long as he stuck to the slow lane.
The owner of the City, Amriezal Lazeirma, eventually became aware of the posting and offered some additional information. He said that ‘no one asked me to drive fast, but I did this as a precautionary step to respect other road users’ and he was also aware that it was peak hours. He apologized to those were patient with him moving slowly.
Explaining the ‘czer’ part, he said that although his wife was discharged earlier, he had to rush her to the hospital again when the stitches gave way and she started bleeding. He was driving cautiously as well as their home in Sg. Buloh had been hit by flooding.
Motorists should drive at whatever speed they are comfortable with and if it is very slow, then they should use the slowest lane, usually the left side of the highway. If they do so, then no one should be unhappy with them. Some motorists will drive very closely behind to pressure a driver to go faster, which is dangerous and can also be considered harassment. In such a situation, it may be best to try to safely pull over to the emergency lane and stop to let the car pass,
Then there are also motorists who insist on being in the fastest lane and travel at the maximum speed limit. Their reasoning may be that no one should go faster as they will be breaking the law. But while they may be right in one sense, there is no point being so stubborn and anger other motorists.
Such situations can cause serious accidents as motorists behind get angry and try to overtake on the left and cut back in suddenly just to show their anger. That can result in a collision which can also involve other cars. So let them break the law and just move to another lane on the left and continue at the speed you choose.
